FOI disclosure log

Australian Government agencies are required to publish a list of documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) within 10 working days of the applicant receiving the documents.

Documents disclosed in response to an FOI request are subject to the following exceptions:

personal information or information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person if publication would be unreasonable;

information determined by the Australian Information Commissioner not to be disclosed;

information that cannot reasonably practicably be published because of required deletions to the document.

The ALRC has maintained a list of documents disclosed under the FOI Act (with redactions) since 1 January 2011.

FOI number

Date of access

FOI request

Information published in the disclosure log

Other information

11/75/06

28/1/14

(i) Any correspondence between the Attorney-General’s Department and the ALRC giving a Direction to the ALRC to conduct an inquiry into “FOI Laws” {but excluding the earlier 1995 ARC/ALRC Open Government Report}.
(ii) Any correspondence between the Attorney-General’s Department, the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet or any other party requesting the ALRC not to “proceed with its inquiry into FOI laws at this time”.
(iii) Any document that sets out the “terms of reference” for this later inquiry {ie following on from the 1995 inquiry.
(iv) Documents in which the ALRC has agreed a more appropriate course of action is to review the FOI Act after the Government’s reforms have come into operation or otherwise confirm that the ALRC will not be proceeding with an enquiry before the amendments to the FOI Act have been enacted.

i) letter dated 26 September 2007, from the then Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock to the then ALRC President Professor David Weisbrot, referring the Inquiry and providing the Terms of Reference.

ii) letter, dated 21 July 2008, from the then Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, to the then ALRC President, Professor David Weisbrot, revoking the Terms of Reference for the Inquiry. This letter is attached.

All draft versions of the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009 in the possession of the ALRC.

N/A These documents do not exist

11/75/03

21/1/14

Documents in the possession of the ALRC that mention the Queensland Right to Information Act 2009 and specifically Section 114 {apart from the enactment itself which is a public document} that would have been part of the documents used for drafting of the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009.

Any later reports from the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) and/or the Administrative Review Council (ARC) after the Open Government: A Review of the Freedom of Information Act 1982, ALRC Report 77 (1995), which include any recommendation that a provision similar to Section 114 of the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) should be included in the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth).

N/A These documents do not exist

11/75-2

Request received 28/07/12. Date of access unknown

17 documents pertaining to The Judicial Power of the Commonwealth: A Review of the Judiciary Act 1903 and Related Legislation ALRC Report 92, comprising correspondence and consultation notes.

N/A. These documents reside with National Archives.

National Archives made these documents available to the applicant.

11/75-01

24/01/12

Confidential submissions in response to the National Classification Review Discussion Paper (DP 77).